A lot has changed in marketing. Are you living in the past? CMOs and CEOs have to reimagine how they view the role of marketing in the business and the customer experience.

1. Feb 1, 2016
James O’Gara
CEO / Founder, OnMessage
I hate to say it, but many of today’s CMOs and CEOs have
lost touch with a critical fact in business: the strength of a
company’s story is intrinsically tied to the financial
performance of the business.
You get out of it … what you put into it.
If your corporate story is ineffective and inconsistently
delivered … financial performance suffers. However, when
your story is clear, compelling and consistently delivered
throughout the customer experience … top-line and
bottom-line results thrive. Why do I believe executives have
lost touch with this fact? How else can you explain the lack of
strategic time, energy and investment executives put into the
development and delivery of their corporate story?
Most companies ... treat corporate messaging as nothing
more than words on paper. Most companies … develop and
deliver their corporate story in an ad hock manner. When you
take those two facts and add that we work in a business world
driven by instant gratification, short cuts and quick wins …
you have a recipe for disaster.
The development and delivery process matters.
Tactic-driven, inconsistent and isolated — this is how most
companies approach the development and delivery of their
story throughout the customer experience. If your corporate
message is going to drive financial performance your
messaging development and delivery process has to matter.
It must be strategic, intentional and holistic. Remember, your
message is not an ad, it’s not a slogan, it’s not even the
message on your website. It’s the story that is consumed
throughout the customer journey … across all channels …
and every touchpoint. Yet, why is it many executives (most
won’t admit it) look for the sexy, quick win when it comes
to getting their message in the market? They launch new
campaigns, new brochures, websites … and for some reason
think their work is done. They wonder why financial metrics
aren’t moving in the right direction. To be honest, I don’t think
they truly believe these tactical things are going to materially
impact customer acquisition, retention and loyalty — but they
do it anyway. Worse yet, they stop there.
Infusion and activation determine ROI.
Even if a company lands on an extremely compelling message
— if it’s not consistently delivered throughout the customer
journey — it won’t be the story customers take away from the
experience they have with the business. That’s why CMO’s
and executives have to redefine what the finish line looks
like. It’s not landing on a clear, compelling and consistent
message. That’s just the starting line (many companies still
don’t get this part right). And even those executives that do
their homework and construct a compelling corporate
message — fall short. They don’t make the investments that
are necessary to activate that message across all critical
channels and customer touchpoints. If executives want their
story to have a material impact on the financial performance
of the business — a clear, compelling message must be
infused throughout the customer experience. That means
the message must be activated inside and outside of
the organization.
A customer experience awakening is required.
Just a few years ago, making sure stakeholders (beyond the
marketing department) understood the corporate message
was a luxury — a nice to have. Today, it is a business
imperative. Why? Because today, the customer experience
is the battleground on which business is won and lost. The
customer experience is made up of so much more than just a
new website or campaign. It takes a village to deliver a clear,
compelling and consistent corporate message throughout the
Are Too Many CMOs and CEOs Living in the Past?

2. entire customer journey. It takes unwavering executive-level
commitment (time, resources and investments) to ensure
every stakeholder that plays a role in the customer experience
is able to bring a consistent story to life.
Customer behavior has changed … have you?
Too many CMOs and CEOs are still living in the past. They
don’t understand that the rules of engagement have changed.
They are not willing to fundamentally change how they
approach messaging development and delivery — inside
and outside of their organization. My only caution to these
marketing and business executives is this: beware.
In the past, repercussions of delivering a fragmented,
disconnected message in the market may not have jumped
off the P&L. But, that’s because the way customers engaged
with and consumed your story was different. Make no mistake
about it … it’s a new world and it’s an entirely different
competitive environment.
Today, CMOs and CEOs that hang on to the old school
approach to corporate messaging development and delivery
… will lose. Those that change the way they bring a clear,
compelling and consistent story to life throughout the entire
customer experience … will win. And win big.
So if you want a new ad campaign — have at it. However,
if you want to make a material impact on top-line and
bottom-line financial performance — be prepared to invest in
a disciplined corporate messaging development and infusion
process. Because, when it comes to the ROI on your story …
you get what you ask for.
When your story is clear,
compelling and consistently
delivered throughout the
customer experience … top-line
and bottom-line results thrive.
More Information:
To learn more about implementing a disciplined corporate
messaging development and infusion process throughout the
customer experience visit: www.itsonmessage.com/pov
To contact James O’Gara: jogara@itsonmessage.com